April 2009

April 30, 2009

Here's another layout I've put together over the last few days in my "spare" time. I'm really loving the options available with digital & not having to drag out all the "stuff". I do miss the hands on of regular scrapping though. I'm pondering what I want to do with these layouts. Thinking I may print them out smaller {6x6 or 8x8} & put them in a little scrapbook. I think it would be fun to make up some 4x6 layouts to print & make into a mini book as well.....hmmm possibilities. Next I want to try some boy ones, some with vacation photos & would be really great to put together our pictures of our massive home renovation.

April 28, 2009

I know, I know. I said I'd never go digital, but lately not having time to scrapbook is really getting on my nerves. Plus, I've seen some really cool stuff come out over the last several months I wanted to try. Yesterday I was catching up on Ali's blog & she mentioned Songbird Avenue. There are some awesome things on their site, plus, for everything you buy, they contribute to a charity. This month's kit is for Autism, which Ali helped design, as it's very close to her heart. She's even contributing some extra herself! So, I ordered up a few kits & played around. Here is the first one I've come up with. It's a combo of a template from this month's kit & the february kit. Also a ribbon from designer digitals.

April 27, 2009

well, once again it's monday & i'm completely wiped out! after returning home a week ago from hawaii we took off once again {this time 3 kids, an aunt & cousin along} to ames on friday afternoon. planning to leave about 4 quickly came & went. between dan's work & my battery going dead in my car, it ended up being more like 5ish! this made for a whiny collin & evan, who had been expecting to get to swim when we arrived at the hotel. but, they were pretty good, we've discovered lydia is a horrible traveler & that she can houdini her little shoulders right out of her car seat harness if it's not tight enough! saturday was an early day to get everyone out to hilton coliseum. collin was pretty nervous about the whole thing, but once he saw some of his friends he was definitely more at ease. it turned out to be a lot of waiting, so dan headed back to the hotel with evan, lydia & payton to let them swim & get lunch. carol & i waited around for collin to get finished with his judging & then a little more waiting to let the public view the inventions. i heard several people in passing comment on the cookie dispenser & made sure to let collin know what i had heard. unfortunately, they don't hear any results for a few weeks. the rest of saturday was spent swimming & then supper with friends at a really cool place called legends that was on the 7th floor of an apartment complex. it was right off lincoln way & we were able to see the isu campus all around. then back to the hotel, where we swam until about 10 & the kids {& adults} were completely wiped out! we've also discovered lydia has absolutely no fear of the water {this is bad, very bad!} & jumped right off the edge of the pool before anyone could grab her. she had some floaties on, but dunked under, cried for about 1 minute & was ready to get back in the pool. we had a good weekend away with the kids, but were more than happy to return home & hopefully get to stay put for a while. now, back to my un-ending pile of laundry!

April 24, 2009

Just giving a little shout out to our Collin, who will be presenting his cookie dispenser at the state level of Invent Iowa tomorrow in Ames. We're heading up tonight & are planning on making a weekend of it. We're bring along Aunt Carol & cousin Payton for some extra fun. Praying for some good weather so we can take the kids exploring the campus at ISU... we always loved walking & riding bikes around while we lived there. The kids loved it last summer when we visited. Anyway, best of luck Collin, we know you'll do an awesome job!

April 23, 2009

Dan surprised me with roses last night... I'm not going to lie, I was quite shocked! {is that really my hubby?} Dan's not the type that thinks ahead to do sweet things like that, but I'm not complaining. It was nice to have a mid-week, post-vacation pick me up!

Yesterday was a lovely day, so when we got home we brought out the cozy coupe & the pink bike to play. My intention was for Lydia to play on the porch with the gates up, so I could get supper started, but, of course, our little lady didn't comply! She wanted to play on the swingset, the concrete, walk randomly around the house & buildings, everything except the porch. Collin helped out by taking her in the wagon, the stroller & playing cars in the dirt. Thanks big brother Coll! When I came out with the camera, Lydia immediately said "cheeshe!". {Yes, her face is that dirty} Lydia was also lucky enough to play ball outside with Mark at the babysitter yesterday with the other girls. Apparently, he gave them quite the workout. They were all still sleeping when I went to get Lydie & none of them seemed too thrilled to have to wake up! Sounds like the weather is going to be good over the next few days at least. Collin is lucky enough to get to go to a Bees game today in Burlington for a reading reward at school & tomorrow to Keokuk to a Civil War program, where they'll be outside as well. I'm hoping it will be nice over the weekend as well, so we can take the kids for a stroll around the ISU campus.

I just found this picture on my camera as well... it was taken the morning of Lydia's birthday. If you can't tell, Lydia takes a while to wake up. For some reason, this morning she had to hold up her head just to eat her cheerios {probably up too long during the night}. Too funny, little girl!

Imagine my surprise last night when I looked out the kitchen window to see Collin driving the lawn mower around the yard by himself. Yikes! He looked so grown up! He's been asking me if he could learn how to mow the lawn recently & I told him that he'd have to take it up with dad. Well, Dan gave him a quick overview of how things worked & let him do some laps around the yard. Next step will be to let him try mowing in the front yard, where there are few obstacles. It's a good start, anyway.

I just found this picture on my camera from about a month ago. Lydia is quite attached to her "bink" yet... right now we have only one remaining. When the boys were little we went through the process of getting rid of their binkies & we always told them when they lost all the binkies, we couldn't buy any more. With Lydia, we told her we were going to send her binks to Sesame Street. Well, between her making holes in a few & just losing a few, we're down to the one. To tell you the truth, I'm a little nervous about Lydia's transition... she's much louder & moodier than the boys were. I was really tempted to buy a few when I was at WalMart the other day. I keep telling myself, though, that the boys had a few rough nights to start, but once it was out of sight, it got easier. So, wish us luck over the next month, as I'm sure our one bink will soon get lost as well... {sigh}

Sunday was breakfast, packing, check out, then we had a few hours before we were to be at the airport, so we did most of the shopping for gifts that we hadn't gotten yet! Our flight ended up being an hour late leaving, so waiting, waiting & more waiting. Then the 9 hour flight to CR & finally, got home & took a nap! Then we went to get the boys from school & Lydia from the babysitters. It was great to see them... the boys were even willing to give hugs & kisses freely! We quickly got back into the regular routine & we're sooooo glad to be home safely with our kids. Next time we go we'll have to take them with & do one of those 14 day island hopping trips everyone was telling us about..... hmmm, maybe in a few years! Of all the trips we've taken, we really would like to go back & see the other islands. The people are so lovely & I love their frame of mind... MAHALO Hawaii!